Rating Curve

I'll preface by saying that I've always been a tad bearish on abstract, "object collection" type levels. Not cynical like GD Twitter's early opposition that unironically mimicked Nazi condemnation of "degenerate" art, but a not insignificant doubt of such levels' ability to pull off the whole "show, don't tell" routine beyond their scattered thousands of objects and the emotions such disconnect might evoke. upstairs isn't the first to supercede them, but there's something fascinating and unique in how upstairs is so unified, like a body. Even more important than the out-of-the-box firepower upstairs' lo-fi noise provides is the unknowability of its details contrasted with the opaqueness of its wider setpieces - "Hello" is the only common word in the different languages we're speaking, but I am forced to understand the energy unceremoniously thrown at me, how upstairs obliterates itself just to chart a reasonably playable route. Not every sequence manages to vault over the devolution of structure into pure self-affirmation, but even those have some beauty in them. If you like this level, you'd probably like Selected Ambient Works Volume II.

For all the graphic violence devin's had in his previous levels, I don't know that any of them cross into surrealism as this one does. Wonderfully personal, but the haze of consciousness gets less exciting and more tiring as the level goes on.

The poppy, candy-coated aesthetic is a pleasure to soak in, but it doesn't salvage the maladroit overindulgence of 2.0 features that, despite being the most recently constructed parts of High Life, aged the poorest by far, even factoring in some charmingly creative visual designs.

Not the best megacollab, but the level most suited to being a blockbuster directed by GD's finest host. The most impressive thing LIMBO does is use the vastly differing visions of its army of creators to assemble a series of trials within its vast and disorienting setting. It's for this reason that I'm glad Mindcap seemingly gave everyone the green light to run wild with whatever hyper-detailed, decadent, flashy puzzles they could come up with; unfortunately, not every creator made the most of this opportunity. In a somewhat amusing manner, it is the tedious coherence of some of these segments that makes LIMBO somewhat fatiguing, and not in a way that would contribute tonally.

An impressively spacious and fairly enjoyable memory level that reeks of the unrealized potential of its own gameplay.

Full Review (YT)